Andy Weir
Andy Weir
Andy Taylor Weir is an American novelist whose debut novel, The Martian, was later adapted into a film of the same name directed by Ridley Scott in 2015. He also worked as a computer programmer for much of his life...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth16 June 1972
CountryUnited States of America
A story in your head isn't a story. It's just a daydream until you actually write it down. So write it down.
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The reason space missions need artificial gravity is clear: humans simply did not evolve to live in zero gravity.
terrible women
I don't even date; I'm terrible with women.
book copies deleted horrible lurking
My first book was so horrible I have deleted all copies of it. Thankfully, it was before the Internet, so there are no lurking caches of it anywhere.
designed father great love moon science
My father has a great love of science, and he indoctrinated me into it early. I think I was 12 or so when we designed a moon base.
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I was born too late to experience Apollo 11, though I do trek to Dad's house every time there's some space event. There's something awesome about crossing your fingers and watching a tense Mission Control room do their thing.
age hired national programmer
I was hired as a computer programmer for a national laboratory at age 15.
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I study orbital dynamics as a hobby. My idea of a good time is sitting down and drawing on that knowledge to imagine a space mission from beginning to end, getting as many details right as I can.
asteroid further invent orbit people send shifting society
Research into manned spaceflight is shifting from low-Earth orbit to destinations much further away, like Mars and the asteroid belt. But society will have to invent many new technologies before it can plausibly send people to those distances.
mark qualities
Just so we're clear, Mark Watney is who I want to be. He has all the qualities I like about myself magnified without any of the qualities I dislike. Mark Watney isn't afraid to fly.
If the reader is rooting for the protagonist, they'll forgive you just about everything else.
originally posting serial time wrote
I originally wrote 'The Martian' as a free serial novel, posting one chapter at a time to my website.
If you look up every last detail on your subject, you'll never finish.
astronaut computer days humans mars robotics rover scientific sending technology viable
Back in the days of Apollo, sending humans to the moon was the only viable way to get the scientific data we wanted. But now, with our computer and robotics technology, there's very little an astronaut can do on Mars that a well-designed rover can't.